History of Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Journey back in time to Boston, Massachusetts, USA

• 1625 - Boston is settled
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
• 1630 - Boston is incorporated
  The Puritans settled in Massachusetts and the town of Boston was founded by John Winthrop as an extension of the colony at Salem. (www.virtualnorfolk....Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1632 - Capital
  Boston made capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
  
  
• 1634 - First Public Park
  Boston Common first public park in U.S.
  
  
•  1635 - Great Colonial Hurricane hits New England in August
  The eye passed between Boston and Plymouth, Mass., and caused a twenty-foot tide in Boston. Gov. William Bradford reported, "It blew down many hundred...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1635 - First Public Secondary School
  The first American public secondary school, Boston Latin Grammar School, founded in Boston.
  
  
•  1639 - First Post Office
  First Post Office in U.S. established in Boston at Richard Fairbanks' tavern.
  www.worldatlas.com/webimage/ countrys/namerica/usstates/matimeln.htm
  
  
•  1644 - January 18 - Perplexed Pilgrims in Boston reported America's 1st UFO sighting
  "...Massachusetts Bay Colony founder John Winthrop detailed instances of unidentified flying objects in the heavens above seventeenth-century Boston i...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1650 - Unsuccessful Meeting
  September 1: Father Gabriel Druillettes (1610-1681) departed Quebec for Boston to establish an alliance with New England against the Iroquois, but he ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1652 - In Boston, John Hull opens the 1st mint in America
  
  historyorb.com
  June 10, 1652
  
  
•  1656 - July 1 - 1st Quakers (Mary Fisher/Ann Austin) arrive in Boston (arrested)
  
  historyorb.com
  July 1, 1656
  
  
•  1673 - January 22 - Postal service between New York & Boston inaugurated
  "In 1673, Governor Francis Lovelace of New York set up a monthly post between New York and Boston. The service was short-lived, but the post rider’s t...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1690 - First Newspaper Issued in America
  The first [newspaper] issued in America was published in Boston in September, 1690. It was printed on three pages seven by eleven inches square, on a ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1699 - December 10 - A severe ice storm hit Boston, MA, causing much damage to orchards.
  
  The Weather Channel
  
  
• 1704 - First Newspaper
  The first regularly issued American newspaper, The Boston News-Letter, published in Boston.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ massachusetts.html
  
  
•  1706 - Benjamin Franklin born January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  
  January 17, 1706
  
  
•  1716 - First Lighthouse
  First lighthouse in America, "The Boston Light" built in Boston Harbor
  
  www.worldatlas.com/webimage/ countrys/namerica/usstates/matimeln.htm
  
  
•  1717 - THE GREAT SNOW OF 1717
  Four successive snowstorms-two of them minor, two of them of major proportions-fell within a ten-day interval (February 27th through March 7th), and l...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1733 - July 30 - Society of Freemasons opens 1st American lodge in Boston
  
  historyorb.com
  July 30, 1733
  
  
•  1735 - August 18 - Evening Post begins publishing (Boston, Mass)
  
  onthisday.com
  August 18, 1735
  
  
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  Boston in 1757
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  Artwork
  
• 1761 - First regular U.S. stagecoach run is begun, from Boston to Portsmouth, New Hampshire
  
  The World Almanac of the U.S.A, by Allan Carpenter and Carl Provorse, 1996
  
  
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  Landing of British Troops at Boston, 1768
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  Artwork
  
• 1770 - March 5 - Boston Massacre
  Tensions between the American colonists and the British were already running high in the early spring of 1770. Late in the afternoon, on March 5, a cr...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1773 - December 16 - Boston Tea Party
  Angry and frustrated at a new tax on tea, American colonists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty and disguised as Mohawk Native Americans boarded t...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1774 - June 1 - Boston Port Bill: British government orders Port of Boston closed
  
  historyorb.com
  June 1, 1774
  
  
• 1775 - April 20 - British begin siege of Boston
  
  historyorb.com
  April 20, 1775
  
  
• 1775 - June 17 - Battle of Bunker Hill
  On June 17, 1775, early in the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. Despite ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1776 - March 17 - British, Get Out!
  Colonial troops force British to evacuate Boston.
  March 17, 1776
  
  
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  Boston Tea Company, Since 1790
  
  "It was in the Old South Meeting House that Boston Tea Company started when more than 5,000 people gathered in 1773 after introduction of new taxes on tea. The event was one of several steps on the road towards... Read MORE...
  
  Postcard
  
• 1795 - State House
  State House built in Boston.
  
  
• 1797 - October 21 - The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, nicknames Old Ironsides, launches from Boston.
  
  http://www.independentsentinel.com/
  
  
•  1806 - June 16 - A total eclipse of the sun was viewed from southern California to Massachusetts.
  WeatherForYou.com
  
  Extract of a letter from Boston, June 16th.
  "The long expected Solar Eclipse has completely engrossed the attention of all order...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1806 - First Church Built by Free Blacks
  The first church built by free blacks in America, the African Meeting House, opened on Joy Street in Boston.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ massachusetts.html
  
  
• 1822 - Boston is incorporated as a city
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
•  1829 - October 16 - Tremont Hotel, 1st US modern hotel opens (Boston)
  
  historyorb.com
  October 16, 1829
  
  
•  1831 - January 1 - First Abolitionist Newspaper
  The first abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ massachusetts.html
  January 1, 1831
  
  
• 1832 - The New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston was formed. The society helped slaves escape to Canada.
  
  http://www.virtualnorfolk.org/
  
  
•  1837 - June 11 - The Broad Street Riot occurres in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English-Americans and Irish-Americans.
  
  historyorb.com
  June 11, 1837
  
  
•  1839 - March 23 – The Boston Morning Post first records the use of "OK" (oll korrect).
  
  wikipedia.org
  March 23, 1839
  
  
• 1839 - Boston
  Boston, Massachusetts
  County of Suffolk. The ancient city of Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, and of New England, and the birth place of America...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1842 - November 17 - Fugitive slave George Latimer captured in Boston
  
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• 1845 - BOSTON. Inc. 1630. Population, in 1845. E. 115,000
  The Indian name of Boston was Shawmut, which is said to mean a spring of water.
  The first name given to it by the English was Tri-mountain or...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1845 - Sewing Machine
  Elias Howe invented sewing machine in Boston
  
  
•  1846 - SCENE: A street in Boston.
  Dramais Persona: Jonathan, a youth from the country visiting the city for the first time. Susan, his intended; both in rustic garbs; both eagerly devo...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1846 - Anesthesia
  William T.G. Morton, a Boston dentist, first demonstrated the use of anesthesia in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, using a specially design...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1851 - February 15 – In Boston, Massachusetts, members of the anti-slavery Boston Vigilance Committee rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from a courtroom following his arrest by U.S. marshals.
  
  wikipedia.org
  February 15, 1851
  
  
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  GLEASON’S PICTORIAL DRAWING ROOM COMPANION illustrated newspaper (Boston, MA), October 11, 1851
  
  "THE GREAT RAILROAD JUBILEE" (September 17-19, 1851, Boston, MA)
  
  Celebration of the first connection by rail from Boston, MA to Montreal, via the... Read MORE...
  
  Artwork
  
•  1852 - December 29 - Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants
  
  historyorb.com
  December 29, 1852
  
  
•  1852 - March 20 – Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in book form in Boston.
  
  wikipedia.org
  March 20, 1852
  
  
•  1854 - The Destructive Gate - Its Effects at the East.
  ...One or two very ludicrous scenes occurred on Warren bridge, Boston. A cartman, with a load of empty hogsheads, attempted to pass over into Charlest...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1854 - Boston
  Boston, a city and seaport, seat of justice of Suffolk county, Massachusetts, and capital of the state, is situated at the western extremity of Massac...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1854 - March 20 – The Boston Public Library opens to the public.
  
  wikipedia.org
  March 20, 1854
  
  
• 1856 - Boston Cream Pie is served for the first time (Omni Parker House)
  
  
  
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  Fairbanks' Celebrate Scales
  34 Kilby Street, Boston
  
  Bangor Daily Whig and Courier
  Bangor, Maine
  June 25, 1857
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•  1858 - August 2 - 1st mailboxes installed in Boston & NYC streets
  
  historyorb.com
  August 2, 1858
  
  
•  1863 - January 15 - 1st US newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal
  
  historyorb.com
  January 15, 1863
  
  
•  1863 - May 28 – American Civil War – The 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment, leaves Boston to fight for the Union.
  
  wikipedia.org
  May 28, 1863
  
  
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  "Cuticura soap, manufactured by the Potter Drug and Chemical company, is an antibacterial medicated soap in use since 1865. Noted Boston philanthropist George Robert White (1847-1922) was once the president and owner of Potter Drug and Chemical.... Read MORE...
  
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•  1872 - The Great Boston Fire.
  The city of Boston, second commercial city in the United States, has, within the past thirty-six hours, been visited by one of the most extensive and ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  This reed organ was built by Mason and Hamlin Organ Co. in Boston in 1874. It is a parlor-style, barrel-type case, constructed of black walnut and the trim is hand-carved.
  Douglas County Historical Society Courthouse Museum, Genoa, Nevada
  
•  1875 - First American Christmas Card
  The first American Christmas card printed by Louis Prang in Boston.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ massachusetts.html
  
  
• 1876 - Telephone
  Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated first telephone in Boston
  
  
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  Malt Bitters Company, Boston, Mass.
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  Putnam Nail Co., Boston, Mass.
  
  "The Putnam Nail Company building is a three-story, red brick structure sited in Port Norfolk, a small peninsula located between the Neponset River and Pine Neck Creek in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. ... Putnam ... Read MORE...
  
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  1880s Wm. H. Zinn
  Boston, Mass.
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  1880s
  Bradley's Super-Phosphate of Lime
  Bradley Fertilzer Co.
  Boston, Mass.
  
  "The Bradley Fertilizer Company was founded on the point of land adjacent to the Back River on Weymouth Neck in 1874 and remained in operation until 1982 when it was... Read MORE...
  
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  New Printamount Check Protector made by E. E. Angell & Co., Boston, Mass.
  centralnevadamuseum.com
  
•  1884 - A LARGE FIRE IN BOSTON. RUBBER-WORKS DESTROYED ENTAILING A LOSS OF $500,000.
  BOSTON, Mass., July 3 - The night watchman employed at the factory of the Revere Rubber Company, on Eastern-avenue, Chelsea, discovered flames, at 3 o...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1885 - Men of Brains - Some of the Distinguished American Inventors
  Benjamin Franklin, born at Boston, 1706; died in 1790; at twelve, printer's apprentice, fond of useful reading; twenty-seven to forty teaches himself ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1888 - "The Great White Hurricane"
  March 11-14, 1888
  More than 120 winters have come and gone since the so-called "Great White Hurricane," but this whopper of a storm still lives in in...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1888 - Women met at Boston on the 29th and nominated Miss Alice D. Stockton, of Wheaton, as candidate of the Equal Rights party for Governor of Massachusetts.
  
  St Joseph Herald
  Saint Joseph, Michigan
  November 3, 1888
  
  
• Boston Massachusetts, 1890
  BOSTON, the metropolis of New England, the capital of Massachusetts, and seat of justice for the county of Suffolk, lies at the western extremity, or ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Rexall Acid-Dyspesia Tablets
  United Drug Company, Boston - St. Louis, USA
  Found at The Way It Was Museum, Virginia City, Nevada
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•  1893 - A great fire at Boston destroyed nearly $5,000,000 of property and several lives.
  
  The World Almanac and Book of Facts, Volume 1894 Press Publishing Company. 1894
  
  
•  1895 - Blizzard - THE STORM STILL HOVERS OVER THE UNITED STATES. IT IS SEVEREST IN THE EAST. TRAFFIC ALMOST ENTIRELY AT A STANDSTILL -- RAILROAD TRAINS BLOCKADED -- BUSINESS PARALYZED -- PEOPLE FROZEN TO DEATH AT SEVERAL PLACES...
  ...Severe All Over New England.
  Boston, Feb. 9. - Reports from all over New England indicate that the storm is one of the most severe in years. Bosto...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1895 - Boston
  Boston, a city of the United States, capital of Massachusetts and of Suffolk co., on a bay called Boston Harbor, which forms the inner bight of Massac...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Old Corner Bookstore, 1895
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  Artwork
  
•  1897 - April 19 The first Boston Marathon is held, with fifteen men competing, and won by John McDermott.
  
  wikipedia.org
  April 19, 1897
  
  
•  1897 - September 1 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
  in 1897, at 6 am, over 100 people crowded onto the first train to travel through a tunnel under downtown Boston. More than 100,000 people would take t...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1898 - Revolutionary Boston - Then and there American Independence was born by Edward Everett Hale
  The American Revolution began in Boston. Different dates are set for the beginning. John Adams says of Otis's speech in 1761 in the Council Chamber of...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Lowney's Chocolate Bonbons
  
  The Walter M. Lowney Company
  89 Pearl Street
  Boston
  
  The Ladies' Home Journal
  April 1898
  
  "The Walter M. Lowney Company, an American candy and chocolate manufacturer, renowned especially for the Cherry Blossom,... Read MORE...
  
  Advertisement
  
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  Vose & Sons Piano Co.
  174 Tremont St.
  Boston, Mass.
  
  Ladies' Home Journal
  November 1898
  
  "James Whiting Vose established in the company in 1851 on Washington Street in Boston. Boston was home to a huge population of old world craftsmen who... Read MORE...
  
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  Public Library, 1898
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  Artwork
  
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  The Old South Church In Its Present Condition, 1898
  Built in 1729
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  
  
  Artwork
  
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  Old State House
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  Artwork
  
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  Trinity Church, 1898
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  Artwork
  
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  The Shopping Hour
  Washington Street, Boston, Mass.
  Postcard
  
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  Faneuil Hall, Boston, Mass.
  
  "In 1742 Peter Faneuil, Boston’s wealthiest merchant, built Faneuil Hall as a gift to the city.
  
  The edifice was home to merchants, fishermen, and meat and produce sellers, and provided a platform for the country’s... Read MORE...
  
  Postcard
  
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  Old North Church, Boston, Mass.
  
  "The enduring fame of Old North began on the evening of April 18, 1775, when the church sexton, Robert Newman, and Vestryman Capt. John Pulling, Jr. climbed the steeple and held high two lanterns as a signal from... Read MORE...
  
  Postcard
  
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  Charles River Esplanade, Boston, Mass.
  Postcard
  
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  Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Mass.
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  Boston Light, Boston Harbor, Boston, Mass.
  Postcard
  
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  Custom House Tower, Boston, Mass.
  
  "The Custom House Tower is a skyscraper in McKinley Square, in the Financial District neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Construction began in the mid-19th century; the tower was added... Read MORE...
  
  Postcard
  
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  Boston, Mass., Washington Street and Old South Church
  Postcard
  
• 1901 - King Camp Gillette and William Emery Nickerson invented the world's first disposable razor blade in 1901. (Boston)
  
  
  
•  1903 - October 1-13 - First World Series
  The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the Boston Americans of the American League ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1904 - May 5 - Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
  
  wikipedia.org
  May 5, 1904
  
  
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  The Union Central Life Insurance Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio
  One of the ten leading Companies of the World
  Ranks first in low cost to the Policyholder
  ANNUITIES, ENDOWMENTS, TRUST POLICIES, PARTNERSHIP INDEMNITY
  79 Milk Street, Boston, Mass.
  THE... Read MORE...
  
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•  1911 - July 4 - Temperature reached 104 degrees F in Boston, Massachusetts
  
  The Weather Channel
  
  
•  1912 - April 20 – Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, opens.
  
  wikipedia.org
  April 20, 1912
  
  
•  1912 - The Baseball World Series won by Boston Red Sox
  
  
  
•  1914 - July 11 – Baseball legend Babe Ruth makes his major league debut with the Red Sox.
  
  wikipedia.org
  July 11, 1914
  
  
•  1914 - The Baseball World Series won by Boston Braves
  
  
  
•  1915 - The Baseball World Series won by Boston Red Sox
  
  
  
•  1916 - The Baseball World Series won by Boston Red Sox
  
  
  
• 1916
  Boston, a city of the United States, capital of Massachusetts and of Suffolk co., on a bay called Boston Harbor, which forms the inner bight of Massac...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1918 - The Baseball World Series won by Boston Red Sox
  
  
  
•  1919 - DOZEN KILLED, 50 HURT, AS TANK OF MOLASSES BURST
  The Great Boston Molasses Flood
  
  DOZEN KILLED, 50 HURT, AS TANK OF MOLASSES BURST
  
  Wreckage Covered with Sticky Stream of 2,000,000 Gallons.
  
  3 ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1919 - The mayor of Boston refused to let the city's police form a union.
  Around three fourths of the police force went on strike. Governor Calvin Coolidge had to send in the National Guard to end the strike.
  http://www.virtualnorfolk.org/
  
  
•  1920 - January 1 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Red Sox for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time.
  
  wikipedia.org
  January 1, 1920
  
  
• 1921 - September 15 - WBZ-AM in Boston MA begins radio transmissions
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
•  1924 - September 24 - Boston, Massachusetts opens its airport
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
•  1925 - July 4 - 44 die when Dreyfus Hotel in Boston collapses
  
  historyorb.com
  July 4, 1925
  
  
• 1928 - November 17 - Boston Garden officially opens
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
•  1930 - December 7 – The television station W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts, broadcasts video and audio from the radio orchestra program The Fox Trappers.
  This broadcast also includes the first television commercial in the United States, an advertisement for the I. J. Fox Furriers company which sponsored...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Gunn Curtis & Co. Color Printers
  30 Hawley St
  Boston
  Advertisement
  
•  February 14, 1940 - A "Saint Valentine's Day Blizzard" hit the northeastern U.S. Up to a foot and a half of snow blanketed southern New England, and whole gales accompanied the heavy snow stranding many in downtown Boston.
  
  WeatherForYou.com
  February 14, 1940
  
  
•  1942 - November 28 - Cocoanut Grove fire: A fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club in Boston, Massachusetts, kills 491.
  DEATH TOLL JUMPS TO 477 IN COCOANUT GROVE DISASTER. BOSTON HOLOCAUST ONE OF NATION'S WORST FIRES - MORE THAN 300 OF THE DEAD NOW IDENTIFIED.
  
  Boston...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1948 - June 9 - WBZ TV channel 4 in Boston, MA (NBC) begins broadcasting
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
•  1950 - January 17 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 men rob $1.2M cash & $1.5M securities from armored car company Brink's offices in Boston, Massachusetts
  "The Great Brinks Robbery of 1950: Not Quite the Perfect Crime
  
  The Great Brinks Robbery was the biggest armed robbery in U.S. history at the time. ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1954 - First Kidney Transplant
  First medically successful kidney transplant was performed in Boston
  
  
•  1963 - June 18 - 3,000 blacks boycott Boston public school
  
  historyorb.com
  June 18, 1963
  
  
• 1974 - Integration of Schools
  Federal Court ordered integration of Boston schools; whites held boycotts and demonstrations against integrated busing program
  
  www.worldatlas.com/webimage/ countrys/namerica/usstates/ matimeln.htm
  
  
• 1976 - First Night
  Boston was the first city in America to celebrate New Year's Eve with a "First Night" event.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ massachusetts.html
  
  
• 1987 - Big Dig
  Construction began on "Big Dig" in Boston
  
  
• Boston, Massachusetts is the 4th windiest city in the U.S. with an average wind speed of 12.3 mph.
  
  National Weather Service